Classroom observation in practice

A teacher at a primary school in Western Australia discusses with two colleagues approaches and attributes of her teaching. With a non-teaching member of the school's staff, who has been at the school for five years, she uses classroom observation and a review of a lesson, recorded on video, to highlight practical ways that students can be engaged through verbal and non-verbal behaviour. She emphasises the importance of trust in professional conversations and classroom observation, seeking informed feedback from another teacher who is familiar with the need of the students in the class she is observing.

Yiyili Aboriginal Community School is part of the Aboriginal Independent Community Schools network of Western Australia. The school is located in the East Kimberley Region. It caters for K-10 students from Yiyili and the surrounding outstations: Ganinya, Goolgaradah, Kurinyjarn, Pullout Springs, Rocky Springs and Moongardie. The school has six equivalent full-time teaching staff and 12 equivalent full-time non-teaching staff. Within the East Kimberley Region, there are limited opportunities for employment for young Indigenous people, hence the development by the school of vocational programs such as ‘Bush to Belly’ that teach students skills relevant to their employment prospects post-school.